The CRTA proposes amendments that would prevent a public officials’ campaign
In order to substantially improve the election conditions, and above all, to disable the public officials’ campaign, the CRTA legal team made a set of amendments to the Bill on amendments to the Anti-Corruption Agency Act and the Law on Prevention of Corruption that have just entered the parliamentary procedure. The amendments were sent today to all MPs of the National Assembly, stressing that their adoption would contribute to the creation of conditions for free and fair elections.
The most important change that the CRTA proposes is establishing a clear boundary between the public and party activity, which would bring our legal framework in line with international recommendations and standards. The amendment proposed by the CRTA would prohibit public officials from participating in publicly funded events during the election campaign, and from promoting themselves, as well as the political options they are affiliated to.
“Together with unequal media coverage of all political options, the practice of a public officials’ campaign has for many years been a key problem in the election process, to which CRTA has consistently been calling attention. If there is a genuine will to create the conditions for fair elections, the changes we propose will be adopted”, stated Raša Nedeljkov, programme director at the CRTA.
For example, in the final report presented by the OSCE / ODIHR mission after the 2017 presidential elections, it was stated that “the intensified activities of public officials in numerous social projects, especially in the campaign finale, in the eve of the elections, have raised the issue of their neutrality and contributed to a vague demarcation between national duties and activities within the campaign, which is contrary to OSCE commitments and the best international practice.”
By adopting other amendments proposed by the CRTA, the Anti-Corruption Agency would be enabled to act more efficiently against public officials who break the law during the election campaign, and deadlines for the Agency to act would be more clearly specified.
Amendments:
